Against All Odds
by Starblaze Knight
Summary: CAMDUS strikes a deal with Alex for the chance to save Jeremiah and Kara. Written for the Superladies Challenge on Tumblr with the prompt 82%.
1. Defying the Odds

It was either a trap or an impossible decision depending on how one looked at it. A mission gone horribly wrong and now Supergirl was in the hands of CADMUS. A few hours after the their capture of the Kryptonian hero, lead Doctor Lillian Luthor of CADMUS called Alex and gave her an ultimatum. Stop interfering with their plans and they wouldn't bother her again. Accept their offer to work for CADMUS and they'd release her father but keep Kara. And the third choice, meet CADMUS somewhere and fight for Jeremiah and Kara's release, as well as her own. If she lost though all three would be taken into CADMUS custody, assuming the didn't just kill Alex. Somehow they were watching Alex's every move and if she informed the DEO or anyone they'd kill both her father and sister. Obviously Alex chose the third choice. There was no way she was going to let CADMUS experiment and torture Kara and the DEO team had been looking for Jeremiah for months without any solid leads.

Arriving at the undisclosed location that was texted to her, Alex saw that the location was an abandoned warehouse that CADMUS was just using for this test of theirs. After parking her vehicle, Alex popped open the trunk of her SUV and loaded up on the few weapons she kept in the non DEO car. A couple of glocks, some spare magazines, knives, and flash grenades to name a few. She didn't have time to stop by her apartment to gather more weapons, time was of the essence. She made sure to put some medical bandages in her pants pocket because she had a feeling she'd be needing it and J'onn taught her to always be prepared for the unexpected.

The challenge was straightforward, fight three opponents one by one and win Jeremiah and Supergirl's freedom if she managed to make it out alive. The problem was that the opponents CAMDUS lined up against her were an alien, an enhanced human that had been experiment on, and Cyborg Superman AKA the real Hank Henshaw. That and the fact that the entrance to the warehouse was guarded by five CADMUS agents so she'd have to fight them too. Analyzing the agents before her, Alex came up with a strategy that would hopefully take them all by surprise since Lillian claimed that the agents outside wouldn't be notified of Alex's arrive so it would be a "fair" fight.

As promised, the guards were unaware of Alex's presence when she finally put her plan into action, starting with a flash grenade to disorient them, and taking them out one by one. One of the agents had gotten a lucky shot and managed to slash her with a knife before she kneed him in the stomach and elbowed his head, knocking him out cold. Entering the building, she took a brief respite in an empty room and accessed the wound, determining that although the cut was shallow and bleeding lightly, like paper cuts it hurt like hell. Alex breathed in sharply as she placed a medical bandage over the shallow cut on her side.

Glancing around the room she had taken shelter in, she quickly calculated her chances of succeeding in her mission. 82%. That wasn't her survival rate but rather the likelihood that she wouldn't make it out of CADMUS alive. Clearly the odds weren't in her favor but she was Alexandra Danvers and, as her father always said, the strongest of them all. She had faced worse odds and survived, the Myriad Apocalypse and saving Kara by piloting a Kryptonian spaceship to that hadn't been used in over a decade just to name a few. If there was one thing she knew it was that the odds mean crap so she would face it and fight.

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A/N: This is my very first fanfic so I hope you all enjoy what I've written. I felt inspired by the prompt 82% and compelled to write a little something for the Superladies Challenge on Tumblr. The spark for my creativity came from a Grey's Anatomy quote and I couldn't help but combine that with the prompt. I also have this posted on AO3.


	2. Beating the Odds (Alien)

A/N: This was originally supposed to be a one-shot, but some of you expressed interest in more so I'll have about two more chapters after this one. I hope you enjoy it!

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After spending five minutes in the abandoned room to tend to her injuries, Alex popped an experimental regan pill into her mouth to help dull the pain from the laceration she'd sustained from one of the guards. She had just reemerged into the hallway when the intercom crackled to life and Lillian Luthor's voice started to flow from it. As soon as the message ended with a "Meet your first opponent," Alex stepped through the door and entered a wide-spaced area that had some abandoned equipment lying around. A door on the opposite end of the room suddenly opened and an Alien stepped through.

The alien was bipedal, about 7 feet tall, and had a reptilian look to it, with an elongated jaw, slitted pupils, tail, and dark green scaly skin with some black stripe patterns on it. The giant beast looked familiar so Alex racked her mind through all the species the DEO knew of until she landed on an image and determined that this alien was a Psion. Psions hailed from the planet Maltus where they were experimented on by the inhabitants of that planet, Maltusians. Had it not been the fact that this one was trying to kill her, Alex would have felt bad that this one had the misfortune to be found by CADMUS to once more be a casualty of science.

With its eyes gleaming with pleasure and anticipation, the Psion stalked closer to its prey. Pulling out the glocks from her thigh holsters, she fired at the creature as it advanced towards her, the bullets falling to the ground after harmlessly bouncing off its hardened scales. Letting out what seemed like a laugh, the lizard lashed out with a clawed hand and caught Alex's shoulder, slicing a three inch red line across her shoulder. Before Alex had time to react the monster swung its tail and slammed Alex into a wall, knocking the air out of her, before wrapping tightly around her abdomen and lifting her a few feet from the ground to throw her across the room.

Gritting her teeth so she wouldn't cry out, she felt a flare of pain from her already injured side as she was clutched tightly. Ignoring the pain, Alex reached into a pocket and pulled out a black dagger, stabbing part of the tail that was gripping her. The creature hissed in pain and immediately released her along with its tail that had detached as a defense mechanism. Thank Rao these creatures had autonomy like the lizards on Earth. Giving the Alien no time to regroup, Alex leaped onto its back and pulled out an electric baton from her belt, turning it on and keeping the end of it on the lizard creature's chest. The Psion roared in pain as 50,000 volts of electricity surged through its body and it thrashed around trying to throw the human off its back with no avail. After what felt like hours, the Reptilian creature finally buckled to the ground, twitching slightly just like its discarded tail.

Breathing heavily, Alex turned her attention to her newest injury and covered it with another medical bandage. She sat down and leaned against the wall for several minutes before standing up to continue her task. One down, two to go.


	3. Beating the Odds (Meta-Human)

A/N: Thank you to everyone who is reading my story. It really motivates me to continue writing this and others that I'm working on. Here is the the next chapter of Against All Odds! Let me know what you thought about this chapter and the meta-human (I hope it was a surprise for you all).

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After attending to her injury, Alex sat down and leaned against the wall for ten minutes before continuing her task. As she stepped through the door to the next part of the warehouse, there was a woman in a lab coat waiting for her. Her back was turned but she had very light bluish-silvery hair and pale skin. This had to be the enhanced human but looking at the scientist, Alex couldn't tell in what way she was enhanced until the woman turned around and held out a hand. An icy blast of wind and snow shot out and sent Alex skidding across the floor, sprawled on her back from the force of the blow.

Lillian's disembodied voice came to life again, amused, as she briefed the agent on the woman. Her second opponent was a former employee of CADMUS, Dr. Louise Lincoln. Apparently she had been working with an alien specimen and when she went to put it into a thermafrost chamber the door closed on her, locking her in and giving her cryokinetic abilities. She was now known as Killer Frost for her ruthless killings of several aliens and humans who had tried to escape CADMUS.

Now that Killer Frost was facing her, Alex could see that the doctor had blue lips and ice cold eyes, along with a cruel smile. Bullets weren't going to do anything since the woman could build an ice wall in an instant, so Alex would have to get up close and personal. She sprinted closer to Killer Frost in a zigzag pattern dodging as icicles flew by her and shattered on the ground. She tried to stab the Meta-human with her dagger, only to have her arm stopped by a frigid grip before being pushed a few feet back by the arctic wind again. The best Alex was able to do was cut the woman's cheek when she threw a throwing knife at her, only to have it not bleed much since Killer Frost was as cold blooded as she was cold-hearted. Enraged, Killer Frost shoved the DEO agent backwards and without warning, a hailstorm of ice shards were sent speeding towards her. Alex was still struggling to recover from the cold blasts though so she wasn't able to completely dodge the attack and several shards of ice ripped through her pants leg and grazed her leg as it flew by.

While on the ground, Alex noticed that several drums of flammable chemicals were on the ground behind Killer Frost, if she could just get it to combust then the power of the blast should be enough to knock the ice woman unconscious. Killer Frost had a smile on her face, no doubt thinking about how enjoyable it would be to kill this agent CADMUS wanted so badly. As tendrils of frost emanated from Dr. Lincoln's hands, Alex reached down to her ankle holster and pulled out a pistol before aiming it and pulling the trigger. Killer Frost laughed as the shot widely missed her but she wasn't the target Alex was aiming for. The first shot had punctured a hole in the container, causing the flammable chemicals to spill out, and the next shot would cause an an explosion. Propping herself up with an elbow, Alex used one hand and fired the second round. The heat from the explosion was intense and Alex quickly threw herself behind a metal sheet of roofing until the heat died down. Coming out from her makeshift shelter, the agent saw Killer Frost lying on the ground in a heap, out cold from the detonation.

Alex sighed in relief as the intercom sparked to life again, but the only thing Luthor said was how fascinated she was that Alex made it this far and that she couldn't wait for Alex to lose the next fight so CADMUS could gain an excellent agent who was quite resourceful. Tuning out the rest of the message, Alex tried to stand only to find that her injured leg couldn't fully support her weight.

More gauze and bandages were applied and then Alex took the time to do a quick inventory of the weapons she had left. A pistol, an EMP device, one throwing knife, and a half empty glock. None of which would be helpful against Cyborg Superman, except maybe the EMP. Truthfully, she really didn't think she could survive a fight with Cyborg Superman. That last attack from Killer Frost had left her limping and favoring her other leg, the shallow cut on her side had started to bleed with all her movement, and her shoulder started throbbing from the gash she'd received, courtesy of the Psion. She couldn't give up now though, she was so close to beating Lillian at her own game. Alex wasn't known to be a quitter and she'd go down fighting until the very end.

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A/N: Next chapter will be posted next week. Look forward to a twist in that chapter too!


	4. Beating the Odds (Cyborg Superman)

A/N: Not sure if this will be the final chapter or not. It was going to be but I can't help myself and want to write one more chapter about Jeremiah reuniting with his family.

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Lillian Luthor wasn't taking any chances with this last fight because unlike the others, where Alex took her time before moving on to the next battle, a door opened up and Cyborg Superman stepped out searching for his target. Alex ducked around a corner so she wouldn't be spotted but it didn't matter because Hank had locked onto his target and moments later, a red laser shot through the wall near her, blasting out chunks of concrete and metal wire mesh. Alex scrambled from the blast but another beam shot through and she was forced to keep moving or be killed. His attacks were relentless and soon every breath she took was painful.

She slowly realized that the attacks had stopped, and panicking that Hank was planning something big, quickly peered around the corner to see where the human-machine hybrid was. She spotted him but unfortunately so he saw her too and he looked right at her and...winked? She thought she had been hallucinating, which given the amount of blood loss and how exhausted she felt was definitely a possibility, but then she heard J'onn speaking to her telepathically for her to play along.

Long story short, ever since Kara saw Jeremiah and he helped her and Mon-El escape CADMUS, J'onn had started keeping psychic tabs on Alex because he knew as time went on that she might do something reckless just to see him. Tonight when Alex failed to return to work and check-in, J'onn had cast out a telepathic net until he reached her mind and focused on what was happening. He had made a promise to Jeremiah that he would watch over his daughters and that's exactly what he was going to do. The Martian had reached the facility first and started to impersonate various people until he ultimately saw the real Hank Henshaw and had the opportunity to knock him out, injecting him with something that would keep him out for several hours and dragging his body outside to hide in the surrounding woods.

While he 'spoke', Alex moved to a different section of the warehouse and J'onn purposely looked for her in all the wrong places so she could recollect herself. He also taunted her out loud since it's what the real Henshaw would have done. J'onn and Alex had sparred for hours continuously for months when Alex first joined the DEO so they were very good at reading each other. J'onn would 'call' out different moves he was going to make so Alex could have time to counter him if she wanted, they couldn't very well make it a one-sided fight and risk Lillian finding out the truth. J'onn wasn't using his full strength against Alex, but that was okay because the real Henshaw wouldn't have either. CAMDUS wanted Agent Danvers alive. They took turns exchanging blows until with one final move, Alex slammed Hank/J'onn's head down into a metal guard railing and he stumbled upright before finally collapsing onto the ground.

Alex staggered into the control room and found Kara and Jeremiah gagged and bound to chairs, the only light came from the Kryptonite lights above, casting the room in an eerie green glow. Neither of them looked worse for wear but looks could be deceiving, CADMUS did have Jeremiah for a decade. A huge television on the far wall was replaying some of Alex's fights until it flickered to show Lillian Luthor, Skyping from wherever she really was. Alex couldn't really be surprised though, Lillian was a smart and calculating person. She wouldn't physically be here just to have Alex potentially take her out in a fourth fight. Granted Alex already had numerous injuries, but anger was a really good motivator and with adrenaline it would be as if there were no injuries. For a brief second before quickly composing herself, the Luthor matriarch actually looked speechless and a bit furious when she saw Alex standing there, expecting to see her Cyborg creation (luckily she was none the wiser about J'onn) instead to inform her that Alex had come up short. Lillian simply scoffed and said, "While I may be impressed that you won this battle, the war is far from over and has just begun." Alex's response was to smirk as she pulled out gun and shot the screen, shattering the screen upon impact and cutting off communication from the CADMUS leader. She walked as best as she could to the two hostages and all but collapsed near Kara, struggling to untie the ropes that bound her sister.

J'onn entered the room a few minutes later, he had been busy disabling all the surveillance feeds and taking out the guards that were posted at the exit to keep them from leaving even though Alex won. During his search, J'onn found armed bomb, Lillian's fail-safe, and quickly deactivated that as well. He went over and bent down to help untie Jeremiah as he performed a quick scan of his mind to make sure it was really Alex's father (not some brainwashed version of her dad) and once they were away from the Kryptonite, Kara used her X-ray vision to look for any implants or tracking devices in her adoptive father. Alex had been supporting Kara while they walked away from the green room but now her steps were faltering and Kara, now mostly recovered, wrapped an arm around Alex and carried her weight.

The group reached the exit with no problems but now was not the time for hugs and reunions because they weren't out of the woods yet, both literally and figuratively. Alex activated the EMP causing the lights above to pop as they rained down a shower of sparks, plunging everything in darkness, save the full moon watching over them like a guardian angel, and then guided Kara to the SUV with directions to where she left it. The four of them piled into the SUV, J'onn in the driver's seat, and sped out like a bat out of hell. Once they had driven a safe enough distance without anyone tailing them and Alex knew they would all be safe from CADMUS, it was as if the weight of the world was lifted off of her shoulders and she let go of the breath she felt she had been holding to breath again. She had so many questions to ask her father but she was so tired that she just decided to close her eyes and rest while J'onn drove them back to the DEO. There would be time to process and catch up later.

Alex came into this challenge with only an 18% chance to win, but she had come out on top. She had completed her mission to bring her father home and that was the most important thing to her. CADMUS was still out there but finally after all this time, Jeremiah was coming home.


End file.
